Monday, November 5, 2007

The Future of the Web: Critical Issues in Internet Retailing

Manage Returns to Enhance Loyalty and Profits
The facts that they found about online returns are interesting. For example, the article stated that customers return popular products less than they do infrequently sold items. This poses a problem for the retailers because it is difficult to resell an item that already wasn't selling. One of the ways they mentioned to fix this problem is to provide a higher variety of products. This will ensure that the consumer is getting exactly what they wanted. Another interesting fact that exists in online retailing is that return rates will go down the longer the item is online. This portion of the article also spoke about attracting the right type of customers and identifying the "devil customers". It was interesting to view retailing from an online perspective.


Develop an Optimal Network Structure

The article states that the best structure depends on the company. This will continue to change as retail sales continue to grow. This is a major portion of online retail and needs to be taken seriously by the company. The article gives several examples of different ways to structure based on different types of companies.

It's interesting that each company could do something different in this area and still remain competitive. Taking this seriously will force a company to take an in depth look at their own business and see what way suits them the best.


Deploy Inventory to Profitably Meet Customer Needs

This sections shows how important maintaining a proper account of inventory can effect a business. Once again, it states different ways inventory can be handled and sold. It also gives real life examples from stores like Walgreens which allow a customer to order their prescription online and choose the store closest to them for pick up. This system also allows Walgreens to predict its sales and the staffing needed to fulfill the orders.

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